One of the most common questions we get asked as pelvic floor PTs is “how to fix a prolapse without surgery”. Let’s first discuss what prolapse is.

Pelvic organ prolapse occurs when there is excess stress to the ligaments that support the organs sitting in the pelvic cavity. Prolapse, and thus the increased stress on the ligaments, can be the result of trauma from childbirth, excessive coughing, excessive heavy lifting, and inadequate pelvic floor muscle strength. Symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse typically include a bulge, feeling of vaginal heaviness, lower back pain, and possibly difficulty passing urine or stool.

Female bladder leakage is common. Research states that up to 50% of women struggle with bladder leakage. Unfortunately many women’s symptoms are often brushed off and they are told that their bladder leakage is part of aging or the result of having kids. However, there are solutions to get control of female bladder leakage.

Urinary leakage is extremely common and has been quotes to occur in as many as 50% of women. As pelvic floor physical therapists, one of the top questions we get asked is “how to stop female urine leakage”?

Female urine leakage is often more complex than one would imagine. The first part of understanding female urine leakage is understanding how your body prevents you from leaking in the first place.

Vaginal prolapse, also known as pelvic organ prolapse, occurs when one or more of the pelvic organs drop down towards the vaginal wall. Vaginal prolapse is named based on the organ that has dropped down. This includes the bladder, uterus, rectum, and/or small intestine. The degree of vaginal prolapse is based on the level of downward movement for each particular organ.

Chronic tailbone pain (also called coccydynia) is common. Tailbone pain is common during pregnancy, in people that’s daily tasks require prolonged sitting, and in patients that have excessive tightness in the pelvic floor muscles.

Since the tailbone is surrounded by muscles, namely the hip and pelvic floor muscles, a pelvic floor physical therapist is the best provider to help you with chronic tailbone pain treatment. 

Hip and pelvic pain often go hand in hand. Many times patients think that hip and pelvic pain are two isolated types of pain, as often pain will start in one area and then as it worsens begins to travel to a broader area. As pelvic floor physical therapists, we often hear our patients report hip pain that appears to start in the outer hip and then as it progresses begins to wrap around to the front of the pelvis.

Pelvic wall therapy, also known as pelvic floor therapy has gained increased popularity in recent years. Pelvic wall therapy is a specific form of physical therapy that is targeted at the pelvic wall or the pelvic floor muscles.

The pelvic floor muscles are the muscles that sit in the bottom of the pelvis. Every person, regardless of age or gender has a pelvic floor and thus can receive pelvic wall therapy.

Treatment for urinary leakage is one of the top things that pelvic health physical therapists specialize in. Urinary leakage is extremely common among women, especially after pregnancy and as we age. When it comes to successful treatment for urinary leakage, we have to figure out what exactly is causing the leakage to happen and treat or modify anything that is playing a role.

Pain with intercourse for women is extremely common and a common symptom that patients ask about include what is the sharp pain during during sex in females. Around 1 in 4 women will experience pain with intercourse at some point in their life.

In a recent Instagram story, Brittany Mahomes shared that she had a fractured back and urged everyone to take care of their pelvic floor after having babies.

From this post, many people have raised the question of: What is the pelvic floor and what does it have to do with a fractured back?

Leakage of urine happens because the pelvic floor muscles (the muscles that sit in the bottom of the pelvis) are either weak, or have too much pressure placed on them. Just you might experience pain when another muscle in our body has too much pressure placed on it, leakage is a sign that there is something in your body not doing its job.

One of the best examples of this occurs when leaking happens during exercise. Sometimes we are so focused on keeping up with the exercise class, or are focusing on what we should be doing, that we aren’t even paying attention until we notice our pants feel wet.

The two things that people try to differentiate between is “is this leakage, or discharge?”

Peeing your pants, also know as urinary incontinence or urinary leakage is common. Research is a little all over the place, but anywhere between 1 in 4, to 1 in 2 women over 30 years old, struggle with urinary incontinence.

Urinary leakage can be triggered by: High pressure activities such as coughing, sneezing, or laughing, high impact activities like running, and jumping, or high load activities like squatting, and lifting

Postpartum physical therapy aims to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, address postural changes that occurred during pregnancy, improve common postpartum symptoms of urinary, bowel, sexual health changes, and pain including lower back pain, pelvic pain.

All pelvic floor physical therapy should take place in a private treatment room with your therapist, although there are some locations where pelvic floor therapy is occurring behind a closed curtain in an open gym. It is important that you get all of the details of the setup of the office prior to booking your initial appointment. Since the pelvic floor is a pretty complicated area of the body, your session should be at least an hour long.

Unfortunately the term “pelvic floor therapist” and “pelvic floor therapy” are not protected terms. Meaning, anyone that is doing any kind of treatment to the pelvic floor can say that they are doing “pelvic floor therapy”.

A pelvic floor therapist SHOULD be a licensed occupational or physical therapy that has advanced training in rehabilitating pelvic floor conditions. OTs and PTs will have a deeper understanding of WHY you might be having your symptoms and will work to rehabilitate your pelvic floor and your body as a whole.

Pelvic floor physical therapy is gaining popularity in the modern day. Many people understand the benefits of physical therapy when it comes to helping to heal postpartum, but unfortunately few understand the benefits of pelvic floor physical therapy while one is pregnant.

Prenatal pelvic floor physical therapy is extremely effective in helping to improve maternal well-being, and improve overall childbirth outcomes.

Through birth preparation, prenatal physical therapy can help patients connect with their body, understand the labor and delivery process and confidently go into childbirth with an ability to connect with their pelvis and pelvic floor.

According to the NIH, a C section is the most common surgery in the United States, with over 1 million Cesarean deliveries occurring every year. (1)

A C section involves disruption to 7 layers of tissue including the skin, subcutaneous tissue, fascia, abdominal muscles, peritoneum, uterus, and amniotic sac. In other words, a C section involves deep trauma to the abdominal wall.

An exercise program that is individualized and catered to core stability is effective at reducing diastasis recti. Physical therapy with a pelvic floor physical therapist who is trained in and understands diastasis healing is an important part of core retraining.